Issue link: https://hi.iaq.net/i/191637
Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health 5 Dampness, Moisture, and Flooding INTRODUCTION This chapter addresses indoor environmental quality (IEQ) problems associated with moisture, condensation, and inundation and the possible effects of climate change on these problems. There is an extensive literature on the effects of indoor dampness on health, including an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report (IOM, 2004) that remains salient and is drawn on heavily in this chapter. The committee did not attempt to re-examine all the scientific evidence considered in the IOM report and other efforts—an undertaking beyond the scope of this study—but instead highlights their findings and other research relevant to the consideration of the health effects of alterations in IEQ induced by climate change. The chapter's focus is on fungi1 and bacteria—microbial agents that grow in the presence of water—and products of damaged building materials. They produce biologic and chemical emissions that can lead to irritant, allergic, other immunologic, or toxic responses. Other chapters address some issues relevant to occupants' exposures to those emissions. Ventilation, which is discussed in Chapter 8, has an effect on exposure: levels of indoor contaminants are higher in spaces that have lower air-exchange 1 ungi have eukaryotic cells as do animals and plants but are a separate kingdom. Most F consist of masses of filaments, live off dead or decaying organic matter, and reproduce by spores. Visible fungal colonies found indoors are commonly called mold (mould), sometimes mildew. This report, following the convention of earlier IOM reports and much of the literature on indoor environments, uses the terms fungus and mold interchangeably to refer to the microorganisms. 133 Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.